1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image retrieval apparatus for storing a plurality of images together with, e.g., titles, each corresponding to one of the stored images, consisting of a plurality of retrieval keys, and used to retrieve a corresponding image, and for retrieving a desired image upon designation of corresponding retrieval keys.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, an image storage/retrieval apparatus such as an electronic filing apparatus has been put into practice. This apparatus is designed to read a large amount of images, e.g., documents, by using a two-dimensional scanning unit (scanner) perform optical two-dimensional scanning, store the read images in an optical disk, retrieve and read out an arbitrary one of the stored images, and output it through an output unit, e.g., a CRT display unit or a printer to allow visual or hard-copy-display of the retrieved image.
In such an apparatus, when a target image is to be retrieved, for example, a free text retrieval method is used. In this method, a retrieval key (a character string) is input for each retrieval item for retrieval, and an image to which a title including this retrieval key is assigned is selected.
According to the above-described electronic filing apparatus, titles, each assigned to a corresponding one of images to be managed and constituted by a plurality of retrieval keys, are recorded on an optical disk in which the images are also recorded, or are recorded on a magnetic disk as independent hardware. When the above-mention retrieval is to be performed, the titles assigned to all the images to be managed are read out from the optical disk or the magnetic disk so as to be compared with an input retrieval key.
In such a retrieval operation, a retrieval condition (a character string) must be set for each retrieval key, even if the same retrieval condition is to be set for a plurality of retrieval keys, resulting in poor operability.